Workshop 4

TUESDAY, AUGUST 8

1:00 to 2:50 PM

Presenter: Anthony Muhammad

Description: This workshop will explore the connection between personal and institutional mindsets and academic achievement gaps. The issue of inequality in student learning outcomes has been studied and debated for many years, but this workshop will seek to establish that the primary culprit in the fight to overcome the achievement gap is our thinking.

Presenter: Jessica Minahan

Title: Reducing Anxiety and Disruptive Behavior in the Classroom

Description: With up to one in four children struggling with anxiety in this country, overwhelmed adults are in need of a new approach as well as an effective and easy-to-implement toolkit of strategies that work.

Presenter: Terrance Scott

Title: Effective strategies for students with challenging behaviors in the classroom

Description: As any teacher knows, there are a wide range of strategies, techniques, programs, and philosophies available for managing classroom behavior. However, science clearly demonstrates that some things provide a higher probability than others. This session will focus on a set of instructional practices that are known to maximize the probability of student success – both academically and behaviorally in the classroom.

Room 307

Presenter: Barb Mitchell

Title: BD Students in the General Education Setting: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Challenging Behavior but Were Afraid to Ask

Description: Students identified with or experiencing Emotional or Behavioral Disorders (EBD) are at great risk for poor school and later life outcomes. Simultaneously, the behaviors these students display sometimes present significant challenges for educators. This workshop is designed to help educators work more effectively with the students they are often most worried about. Techniques for preventing problem behavior will be provided and example classroom adaptations that support student success will be discussed.

Presenter: Judy Elliott

Title: It all starts with Beliefs: Culture, climate and relationships matter.

Description: As the saying goes, “you can’t mandate what matters.” How one interacts with data and with students as well as adults is not the same. While data is mission critical, ones beliefs about students’ capabilities, race and class are imperative to the work of improving outcomes for students. This session will examine implicit bias, current culture and societal norms and explore a tool that measures beliefs about instruction, intervention, and students’ abilities as it relates to current practices and the impact of their misalignment.

Presenter: Brian Mendler

Title: Motivating and Managing Hard to Reach, Uninterested and Disruptive Students

Description: From the author of the international best-selling book Discipline with Dignity, this session is loaded with strategies, techniques, and ideas designed to prevent motivation and discipline problems in the most difficult classrooms. Discover and practice specific strategies and techniques designed to change attitudes and ignite a passion for success. This practical, informative session will transform the lives of your most disruptive students.

Presenter: Emily Bollinger | Laurie Ganser

Title: Advocacy through Storytelling: Challenging Stories about Race and Identity through Reading, Writing, and Community-Building

Description: Attendees will experience an abbreviated version of The Storytelling Project, a unit developed to bridge learning about race and culturally relevant teaching to students’ lives. In doing so, students become advocates for themselves and for a more equitable society, all the while practicing literacy skills required to be their own champions.

Room 318

Presenter: Karla Hardy| Mitch Kuhnert

Title: Shake Your Thinking… Shake your School Making culture shifts happen one thought at a time!

Description: Hear from two West Des Moines educators and 3P practitioners about their personal growth and then how they translated their understanding of mental wellness through the 3 Principles into dynamic change for their school and communities. The breakout will give a brief overview of the 3 Principles and their impact on teachers, students, and community. The session will outline the experiences of implementing professional development for teachers and development of student groups. Please join us for what we see as the “greatest gift” we can give our students!

Presenter: Baruti Kafele

Description: Based on Principal Kafele’s best selling book, The Principal 50: Critical Leadership Questions for Inspiring Schoolwide Excellence, Principal Kafele makes the case that building a learning environment that inspires schoolwide excellence can never be overstated; particularly in lower-performing schools. In this high-energy, highly-engaging workshop, Principal Kafele will challenge principals, assistant principals and aspiring principals to look critically within themselves through reflective questions about their leadership practices relative to how they inspire energy, excitement and enthusiasm for learning throughout their buildings daily. In his inimitable style, Principal Kafele will lay out the touchstones for maintaining strong leadership habits, inspiring excellence and collaboration in others, and engaging an entire school community in striving to be the best. Topics include: The Attitude of the Leader, School Brand, School Climate and Culture, Building Collegial Relationships, Instructional Leadership, Accountability and Responsibility, Planning and Organization, Professional Learning for the Leadership, Professional Development for Staff, and Parental and Community Engagement.

Room 103

Presenter: Colleen Capper| Elise Frattura

Description: In this highly interactive session, Dr. Capper and Dr. Frattura will focus on the ICS Equity Steps in ICS Equity Cornerstone 4: Leverage Policy and Funding. Participants will learn how to align all federal, state, and district policies, procedures, and funding to their Equity- Negotiables. These policies include position descriptions and hiring to align with the changes in roles and responsibilities.

Room 106

Presenter: Dr. Eddie Moore Jr.

Title: Not in my school! How White Supremacy, White Privilege, And Other Forms Of Oppression Undermine Best Intentions

Description: How can events in Ferguson, Staten Island, Norman, Baltimore, and McKinney drive our school communities apart? Consequently, how can they be used as teachable, community-building moments? As the recent surge in highly visible racial incidents impacts students differentially along racial lines, independent schools have a unique opportunity to deepen the dialogue, understanding, and campus engagement. This interactive and challenging session explores how these headline stories relate to the impact that power, privilege, and oppression has on student and family engagement, teacher preparation, curriculum development, and everyday campus interactions. While exploring history, white supremacy, and the manifestation of oppression in recent events, participants will develop skills and insights for effective personal and institutional transformation.

Presenter: Katy Swalwell

Title: The History of Anti-Black Racism in Iowa

Description: Knowing more about the legacy of white supremacy in Iowa is crucial to educators understanding and responding to current inequalities in schools in anti-racist ways. This workshop provides an interactive overview of the events, people, and everyday practices related to this fascinating history. Teachers are also encouraged to find ways to integrate this information across the K-12 curriculum.

Boardroom 2

Presenter: Marcia Gentry

Title: Total School Cluster Grouping

Description: The Total School Cluster Grouping Model (TSCG) is a specific, research-based, total-school application of cluster grouping combined with differentiation, focused on meeting the needs of students identified as gifted, while also improving teaching, learning, and achievement of all students. Research on TSCG has shown that student achievement increases, teachers widely implement gifted education strategies with all students, and more students are identified as high-achieving and fewer students are identified as low-achieving. Recent research has also shown that TSCG improves achievement and increases the numbers of students identified as gifted who come from economically disadvantaged families and from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Participants will learn about the model as well as consider site-specific applications.

Boardroom 3

Presenter: Scott Peters

Title: Five Steps to Better Gifted and Talented Student Identification

Description: This session will share five specific assessment and identification practices that, when implemented, will increase the accuracy of gifted education identification systems as well as the relative diversity of the identified students. These practices include the use of universal screening, properly-designed nomination phases, lowered cut scores, group specific norms and more. Attendees will explore how each identification practice carries implications for program size, population diversity, cost, and time.